Psalm 7

Intro

The Joy of the Lord and his salvation

Today we are in Psalm 7. Turn in your bibles

Write this coming off a week at camp, on the back porch of a cabin in TN

While I was at camp I aske campers this question: How much do you trust God?

Lets start with the intro

The Holman Christian Standard Bible Psalm 7

A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.

We don’t know who “Cush” is. Some weeks ago in Psalm 3 we heard about David fleeing from Absolom, and how this guy, Shimei, from the house of Saul, followed David around and cursed him and threw stones at him. One of David’s men offers to take off his head, but David say no, what if God told him to curse me?

This seems like it could be a very similar situation

(1) Psalm 7:1-5

Psalm 7:1–5 ESV

O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver. O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

Job

We don’t know when Job was written or who it was written by

The setting is the patriarchal period, so this could be a story passed down through generations orally before it was written.

Job is not an Israelite. The Israelites weren’t a people yet. But Job fears God. He is wealthy and has a large family and numerous servants.

A peak into the heavenly realm

Jobs life is ruined

Is this fair? This is the question raised by job and his friends

have you ever asked that question before?

I’ve asked that question before “did I do something to deserve this” then I try and add up my sins to see if it matches the total of suffering

And that is what David is searching for in this Psalm: Justice.

But look where he begins (v1

How do we start our prayers. When we cry out to God do we do it out of desperation because our plans didn’t work?

What if we began with, “God, I’m relying on you to save me, not me, and also, would you search me? Have I truly been just?”

Job spends so much time angry that he has been suffering unjustly, demanding an answer from God

God shows up, and doesn’t give job the answer he wanted. But he gave him what he needed. confidence to trust that God knows what he is doing.

When you’re in the midst of hardship, can you trust him?

(2) Psalm 7:6-11

Psalm 7:6–11 ESV

Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous— you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.

Wow. lets read this again.

God is slow to anger. Which is good for us. But the evil in the world that make us angry. yeah, God is angrier than you are.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

God shows his wrath every day. But when justice and vindication doesn’t come as fast as you think it should, can you trust him?

(3) Psalm 7:12-16

Psalm 7:12–16 ESV

If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.

You know, far too often, we think that in order for justice to be served, we got to start digging holes

roler skating

That’s not justice, that’s revenge. And do you know who vengeance belongs to?

Are we ok with the fact that sometimes the wicked prosper?

When you want justice to be served, can you wait on the Lord? Can you trust that he knows better than you?

psalm 121

(Conclusion) Psalm 7:17

Psalm 7:17 ESV

I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.